I wonder if my kids will ever learn all their cousins' names...

Top Row: Joe's family; ALL THE FAMILY (Don't ask me why my family & Mark's family are separated from everyone else. You'd think the photographer would have mentioned that...); Sarah's family;
Second Row: John, Mark, Aaron's families;
Third Row: Paul, Laura, Ben's families;
Last Row; Jacob & Mallory; Melvin & Linda with their 12 children; Daniel, Sarah, & Lincoln.

Though most everyone is smiling, I can assure you, tempers were flaring prior to the shutter button clicks!! Next time, we've got to hire someone to do this!!

2012 Dodd Reunion in Lava Hot Springs

We reached Lava Hot Springs, ID on Tuesday July 17 and stayed until Saturday. There were a lot of us. At one point, all of Linda & Melvin's living children were in attendance and it was a few hours of utter chaos. To be honest, most of the reunion was utter chaos, but entertaining nonetheless.
At and around the cabin:

Clockwise from top left: Caleb and some Dodd kids on a hike outside the cabin; Ammon on the stairs from the basement; McKenzie with Stinkin Lincoln and Sarah; a whole lotta Dodds in a not-big-enough-for-60+-people-cabin living room; Tayeden, Tenille, & Adalie; little Dodd boys; MORE little Dodd boys in the basement of the cabin; Dodds on the porch; HERE are some GIRLS!!-Taveah, McKenzie, and Kayley; Connor, Caleb, Michael, and Ben. Center top to bottom: more Dodds listening to Melvin; Danny, Cate, and Spencer.

The Portneuf River runs through Lava Hot Springs. You can tube the river and there is also a water park next alongside. Floating the river with a ton of people was awesome! We'd all link up and try to stay together. Can you just picture 20 Dodds--kids and adults--all screaming and twisting around in tubes scrambling for hands and ankles of one another? We set up a 'camp' at a good site to pull the kids out--they'd walk up the river a ways, hop in and float down to us where we'd pull them out and they'd do it all over again. Though the cabin wasn't ideal for all of us, floating the river was perfect!

Clockwise from top left: Jacob going over the first waterfall; our camp; Ben, Connor, & me starting at the top of the river--it took about 10 minutes to float all the way back to our camp; pulling out of the river; Ben going down the first fall; my family and Taveah; some Dodds at the top of the river below the two falls; John getting Connor out--he was the only one of my kids brave enough to do the whole river; Center: Ben, Connor, Peyton, and Joe getting ready to go down one of the slides at the water park.

Will I ever finish posting pics from our vacation?

These two sets of pics are from our time with the family before reaching Lava Hot Springs, ID for the 'official' reunion.

Clockwise from top left: Connor and a bow & arrow, some Dodds in Paul's basement watching the video of their last trip to Lava Hot Springs, ID in 1994, Ben with Calais & Danny, Linc the Stink & yours truly, Kim & Stinkin Lincoln (we both hogged him the whole night--we were so excited to see him since Daniel & Sarah moved back to UT in April), Will & Spencer.

The Assembly Hall on Temple Square, The Tabernacle, some Dodds causing a ruckus, Salt Lake Temple, my family in the Assembly Hall, The Christus Statue in the Visitor's Center.

*fuzzy photos courtesy of my iPod

Dodds Invade BYU

Our first Saturday of vacation, we gathered with a few fellow Dodds and headed to BYU campus. We did some fun things but the most memorable of course involved an officer of the law. Those always seem to pop up when Dodds congregate...

Apparently the BYU field has sensors that alert the police when movement is detected. A cop pulled up and told some of the adults "people get arrested for stunts like this". Awesome. What a way to start a vacation!! As you can tell by the picture, the guy was pretty cool and probably loved the flattery oozing from three Dodd brothers and their dad. Another story for the books!!

Getting Good Use Out of Mom & Dad's Investments...

My family comes from the north--Lepperts, from Indianapolis. Dad's youngest brother brought his two kids, and my cousin and her hubby came with them. We 'laked' their whole visit. This included learning to ski for some, tubing, fishing, and a lot of swimming.

Kids Just Wouldn't Love Me If It Weren't for Pinterest...

Birthday Fest 2012

If you know anything about the Lepperts, you probably know that from 2004 to 2006, our parents had two children and one grandchild--what makes our family unique is that fact that those two kids and one grandkid all share the same birthday--June 16. This year, we got to spend it together.

It was a special birthday for Caleb because he turned eight. In the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, a child who attends church can choose to be baptized at the age of eight--an age where they are supposed to have the ability to choose between wrong and right and so on. This also qualified him to begin attending Cub Scouts. He was excited about both events!

School's Out!!!

Wait...that was three weeks ago. We've been fairly busy so far, but here are their last day of school pictures.

The Dodds start them young...

Last Saturday we went to Hallsville to attend an All Comers Track Meet.

 

Long Jump:

Connor didn't place.

Caleb placed second.

 

800 M

Caleb placed first, Connor placed second!

I can't believe the speed and agility of these young kids. It was fun to watch!!

An Interview with a Six Year Old

 

1.          Who is your best friend? Jarom   

2.          What is/are some of your hobbies? Play basketball

3.          What is your favorite animal? horse

4.          What is your favorite food? hamburger

5.          What is your favorite dessert? brownie

6.          What do you like to do with your family? Go to Jason’s Deli

7.          What do you want to be when you grow up? football player

8.          What makes you happy? When I get to eat gum

9.          What makes you sad? When I have to stand on the wall at recess

10.     What is your favorite movie? Hugo

11.     What is your favorite book? Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

12.     What was the best part of your b-day? When I got to open up presents

13.     What do you like to wear? Polo shirts and khaki shorts

14.     If you could go anywhere for vacation where would you go? To the beach

15.     What is your favorite game to play? checkers

16.     What is your favorite sport to play? football

17.     What is your favorite team to watch? Buckeyes

18.     What is your favorite thing about school? recess

19.     If you had $100 what would you buy? A new house for Mom

20.     What is something that happened to you this year that you hope you never forget? That my cousins Taye and them came to Texas

Futball 2012

Do all moms think their kids are the best at everything? If so, at least I'm doing something right as a mom!

Why Doesn't Instagram Upload to Blogger??

You know how when you get a new toy and you are obsessed with it and use it like crazy for the first little while? Well, that's happened to me with my iPod. I've wanted an iPhone for a while and maybe--because he will never, ever, get me one--Ben decided to get me an iPod instead. I use it a lot to take pictures because I am in looove with Instagram. The edits are so vintage-y and neat and they look awesome on the actual iPod. Once I load them onto my computer though, it's a different story--they're a much lower quality than a regular camera. The last few weeks I've gotten a few good pictures of us here and there.

Top Row: Cate & Claire playing dress up, Cate & Oliver (Chris, Taylor, Claire and Oliver now live two hours and 15 minutes away!!!! Cate and I went and spent a night there last week), Cate rolling downhill in our yard.

Middle Row: The kids out at the lake house, Copper, Caleb doing a flip on a swing at the lake house.

Bottom Row: Connor's turn on the swing, the long staircase up to the lake house from the lake, the kids playing soccer in the yard at home.

And by the way, does Instagram upload to Blogger?? I looked it up once and didn't find anything so I assume it doesn't. It would be easier to blog if it did...

Our weekend in Instagram pics...

One of the most eventful weekends we've had in a while, started with Ben's birthday. A Mavs game with some excited kids and a not so excited wife, ended up being fun but disappointing--they lost. Chris & Taylor live in Mc Kinney now. I STILL CAN'T BELIEVE IT!!! We helped move them in and the kids reunited. That's all for the pics, but back in G-town things are still hopping because we've got Mark & Nicole and their fam with us til Wednesday!!

Is Four Still Liggle?

No...not little enough. And when she stops saying 'liggle' for 'little' I think I will cry.

I'm seriously considering getting a degree in entomology...

**UPDATE** They are gone!

 I think they're just passing through. At least I hope...

I promise, I'm not really that into bugs...

...but here is another interesting moth!

I first saw one of these last year on the azalea bushes out back. I thought for sure it was a wasp or bee because of its black and yellow coloring. I googled it and never found anything that looked similar. Fast forward a year, and I see my first Luna moth. While goggling 'funny looking moth' I came across a picture of a clearwing sphinx moth. I'd solved my mystery bug conundrum from last year and moved on with my life only to spot a second one days later. These guys are very fast and on some sites they are called hummingbird clearwing sphinx moths. It was hard to get a good shot, but here he is.

They Still Look Like Rats...

I Feel Like I Never Take Pictures of My Kids...

...so here is one with their cousins at the latest and greatest in Gilmer...Whataburger!!

A First for Me...

The Luna Moth: one of the largest moths in North America. I'd never seen one before and thought it was pretty cool. Luckily, all the kids were home and were able to see it before it flew away.

I'm a Grandma!

On Thursday, our cat Buckeye, gave birth to five kittens. We knew she was expecting, but weren't sure when she'd have the babies. It wasn't as messy as I expected. In fact, there was hardly any blood at all. The kittens all look different and I can't wait to watch them grow into cute fuzzballs, instead of the tiny rat-like creatures they are now. Rat-like as they are, the kids are in love.